Getting Some Answers
by ClaireStar
Summary: Tyreese looked at her intensely. "Carol, please. I deserve to know what happened to the woman I was dating for several weeks, but hadn't slept with, before she was murdered. Did you kill her?"


Glenn was the first to ask a question. "I guess there is something I don't understand. Why didn't you just say they had died and kill them the way you would kill a walker, then make a case with the council about burning the bodies? You could have hidden the murder part easily."

Carol shrugged.

Daryl looked at her in frustration. He leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest. "So, Carol, how exactly did you kill them?"

For the first time, a new emotion showed on her face: fear.

Carol said, "I caved in their chests with an anvil."

Every jaw in the room dropped except for Daryl's and Rick's. The former looked thunderous; the latter's expression was hard to read.

Daryl pressed more. "That all you did?"

Carol looked nervous. "I...uh...also wrapped plastic bags around their heads so they suffocated."

Maggie started to speak, but Carol interrupted her. "And I hanged them with their own bedsheets. And gave them rat poison. And carved 'I hate you for killing Nick' on their foreheads.'"

Maggie opened her mouth again, but no words came out. She was still struggling to recover her ability to speak when Carol added, "That was right before I tarred and feathered them."

Glenn put his head in his hands. "I don't even know what to say. Maybe...why?"

She said in a weak voice, "I just wanted to be very careful that they were actually dead."

Tyreese looked at her intensely. "Carol, please. I deserve to know what happened to the woman I was dating for several weeks, but hadn't slept with, before she was murdered. Did you kill her?"

Carol looked defeated. "No."

Sasha said, "What about that other guy? Did you kill him?" Carol shook her head.

Carol sighed. "I thought Lizzie did it."

Maggie said, "So you thought a little girl did all of this?"

They looked over at Lizzie, who was smiling and blowing kisses to some nearby walkers.

Michonne shuddered a little. "I could see why you might think that."

Sasha nodded knowingly. "I bet she has Creepy Little Girl strength."

Maggie's brow furrowed. "So why didn't you tell anyone?"

Carol mumbled, "I covered it up almost without thinking. I was trying to figure out what to do, but everything happened so fast - the flu, Rick abandoning me in a planned community..."

Rick, who had been listening to this, stunned, mumbled, "I'm gonna go out and check on the pigs." He walked off.

Carl looked at him, confused. "But...didn't you...aren't they...?"

Tyreese patted the boy on the arm. "Let him go, son. Let him go."

Carl huffed, "I'm not your son." All the air seemed to go out of him then, and he looked up contritely at Tyreese. "I'm sorry. I'm just sensitive to the paternity issue."

Michonne looked at Carl with sympathy. "I'm sure Rick is your father, Carl."

The boy looked defeated. "That's what I'm worried about."

Michonne nodded sympathetically. She could understand that.

Maggie said, "Well, Carol, you still hid that there was a killer inside the prison. That's inexcusable."

Carol said, "I know I made a mistake."

Daryl said, "Inexcusable? Are you KIDDING me? Maybe if you paid attention to something other than Glenn's -"

Carol cut him off. "Daryl. It's OK. She has a right to her opinion."

Maggie looked angry. "She had DAYS to tell us."

Sasha said, "But was it really days, or was it maybe 36 hours?" No one answered, and their faces reflected extreme confusion.

Bob spoke for the first time. "Really, does it make any sense to rehash this? I'm starting to wonder if maybe I deserve to be the sole survivor of this group, too."

They all looked at him in shock.

He smiled. "Just kidding."

Tyreese looked at him with disgust. "You are creepier than that little girl."

They all looked at Lizzie, who was holding hands with a walker who was reaching through the fence. She had a garland of flowers in her head, and had another in her hand.

Beth said, "Is she getting ready to MARRY that thing?"

It was Maggie's turn to shudder. "She needs to leave."

Carol became more animated. "She is a child. An innocent child!"

They were interrupted by Jeannette, who had been keeping an eye on the children as they played in the play area the group had created in their new residence. She looked nervous. "Sorry to interrupt, but you know those walker heads on the stuffed animals? I had to kill them because the duct tape wasn't holding them on and they kept rolling toward the kids."

Michonne said, remarkably calmly, "What are you talking about?"

Jeannette spoke up with more authority. "The walker-headed stuffed animals. I had to put a knife into their brains so they would stop trying to bite the children."

Glenn looked at her in disbelief. "Did you really think that we knew that there were walker heads in the playroom? What is wrong with you?"

Something in Jeannette changed after that reproach from Glenn. She exploded in anger. "Listen to me, Mr. Sex Machine. You people left me in a room with a bunch of people with a fatal virus even though I told you it was just allergies, and in fact, I had been regularly requesting allergy medication on the supply runs during the whole time I was here. Meanwhile you've got Rick walking around mumbling about hybrid tomatoes, calling one of them Lori, and Bob carrying around that weird shoebox with the blood stains on the bottom..." She paused for breath.

Daryl half-nodded. "She does have a point."

Jeannette glared at him. "Don't defend me, Sleeveless. I have had it with you people, and those three little blonde kids always singing nursery rhymes in a monotone with blank expressions on their faces and standing over people while they sleep, and playing with their...Deady Ruxpins."

Beth looked confused. "What are Deady Ruxpins?"

Glenn whispered. "Don't interrupt. She's on a roll."

Jeannette silenced him with a look. "What exactly was I supposed to think was _normal_ behavior around here? I thought they were part of Carol's 'book club.'" Carol looked shocked. "Yeah, I knew. And if these people paid any attention, they would have noticed also, and they would have let you do it."

She sighed and said, "I've said my peace. "I am out of here. I'm packing some supplies and I am GONE."

Sasha said pleadingly, "Don't do it, Jeannette. You'll die alone."

Jeannette whirled to face her. "Don't you dare. You know I'm dead if I stay here much longer. And if I were you I wouldn't make any long-term plans either. In fact, I think you should come with me."

Sasha looked shocked.

Michonne put her hand on Sasha's shoulder. "She's right. You should go with her. I'll miss you, but trust me, it's time to go."

Sasha turned and ran to her room to get her things. When she and Jeannette returned a few minutes later, the group still had not spoken.

Sasha ran over to Tyreese and gave him a big hug. "You know it's for the best." He nodded, tears shining in his eyes. She said to Michonne, "Thank you for everything. Hang on to that katana. It's a big differentiator."

Michonne nodded. "I will."

Jeannette said impatiently. "Sasha, we have to go, now." She looked defiantly at the rest of the group. "And we're taking the motorcycle."

Daryl started to object but Carol grabbed him by the shoulder and said gently, "Don't."

He looked angry, but stilled.

They all watched as Jeanette and Sasha walked over to the bike. Jeannette looked at it for a second, then looked again more closely. "Is that a SWASTIKA on that thing? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Glenn said, "I thought I saw one on the bike back when Merle was riding it, but then I figured I imagined it."

Daryl said, "Yeah. I cover it up with a Sharpie, but it keeps coming off."

Tyreese said, "Sharpies aren't waterproof."

Daryl said, "It was all I had."

Jeannette said, "Shut up, you fools. I'm not taking a vehicle with a fucking swastika on it. I'm taking the Hyundai."

Sasha said. "That's a good idea. Better gas mileage, good trunk space and surprisingly roomy interior."

The two women loaded their things into the car and got in. Without looking back, they drove away.

Beth looked really confused again. "So does that mean that Jeannette and Sasha did it?"

Michonne looked irritated. "No, the three creepy blonde kids did it." Beth still looked bewildered. "You know, Lizzy, Mika and that little blonde boy with the ringlets?"

Carol looked upset. "We don't know that for sure yet. They are just children, after all."

Daryl grabbed her wrist and got in her face. "Carol, I need ya to listen to me carefully. You have come too damn far to die because you suddenly have blind faith in a bunch of kids despite all the clear evidence that they are murderers. You just barely survived covering up for 'em."

Glenn nodded. "You've developed too much, character-wise, to do something so stupid."

She sighed. "You're right. Those kids are psychos."

Glenn said, "Good."

Maggie looked at him angrily. "What are you talking about? As far as we know, she still could have done it."

Michonne said, "Actually, I think it's pretty clear at this point that she didn't."

Maggie said, "Well, she still hid a murderer from the group!"

Tyreese turned to Maggie and said, "Maggie, what exactly do you have against Carol? You won't cut her a break."

Maggie was silent for a moment. "You know, I have no idea. This is really out of character for me, wasn't it?" There were nods from the others. "Carol, I'm sorry. You deserved better from me, from all of us."

Carol said, "I understand. We all behave out of character sometimes." She stopped for a second for dramatic effect. "Well, at least some of us do, amirite?"

Michonne and Maggie both laughed and said in unison, "You know it."

Beth said, "I'm still lost."

Carol patted her on the shoulder. "We know, honey, we know. It will get better once you start showing more of your personality."

Michonne nodded. "Then it'll get worse. And then you'll probably die."

Beth looked a terrified baby bunny.

Carol looked at her sharply. "Now Michonne, I think that we've reached a turning point today. Maggie's out-of-character behavior has been noted and corrected, and I've been persuaded not to go off in a direction that would make all of my hard work pointless. I'm sure Beth is going to be fine."

Maggie pulled Beth to her and gave her a hug, letting the younger woman bury her head in her shoulder. Over the top of Beth's head, the three women looked at each other. Carol shook her head and mouthed dramatically, "No. She's not." Michonne nodded grimly. Maggie shrugged philosophically, as if to say, "Hey. What can you do?"

They walked off, leaving the men alone.

After they were gone, Glenn said, "Damn. Jeannette was AWESOME back then, wasn't she? I'd never noticed her before, really, but WOW."

Tyreese smiled ruefully. "I'm sorry I never noticed her, either."

Daryl said, "Michonne's lucky she left."

Glenn said, "Too true." They laughed. "Let's go get a beer." They walked to the kitchen. Glenn added, "Not you, Bob."

Daryl said, "You can come, Carl."

Carl smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

Bob watched as the others left. He stood there, deep in thought. He hopped on the motorcycle and drove off in the direction Jeannette and Sasha had gone. Bob Stookey was a survivor, and he knew when he was living on borrowed time. He just hoped Tyreese and Beth could, too.


End file.
